Needs More Power
by AnonOrange-FFA
Summary: Why would Volkner go outside when he's perfectly happy to brood and work and brood some more?


Disclaimer: Nothing here is or has ever been mine.

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'Hey Volk, we hauling ass down to the beach now or later? Because I've only got the weekend off and I know you're not the kinda guy to notice the weather but seriously, sunshine attracts chicks and I don't want to miss any of it.' Flint had snuck in the back door to the Sunyshore Gym. He didn't have a key, no, Volkner didn't like the idea of giving him that much freedom. What he did have was the knowledge that there was a key hanging on the wall just inside the window. If Volkner left the window open far enough, he was free to enter. If he had to force the window up so he could reach, well, Electivire was usually waiting.

'Seriously? Did you not get any of my messages? The ones that say, hey Volkner, I'm coming home this weekend, you better get used to the idea of going outside again. No? Well fuck, man, come on. A couple of hours won't hurt you.' He was shouting as he walked upstairs to the apartment with Flareon at his heels. 'Oi, I know you're in... Seriously?' Flint dumped his bag unceremoniously to the floor and pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. For a moment it looked like he was going to sit down but instead he moved and opened the window above the sink, then went and stood so he was leaning on the back of the chair.

'Close the window.'

'You'd need to Defog the place to get to the fridge.'

'It's not fog, its smoke.' Volkner lit another cigarette, as if it were a childish act of defiance rather than the need for another. He was sitting on a chair this time, Flint noticed, which was a nice change from lying on the couch or the floor. His bare feet were perched on the edge of the table as if he'd been trying to balance the chair on its two back legs before he'd heard the door. Jolteon was sleeping under the table.

'What happened there?' Flint tried changing the subject by indicating to the table. He knew what had happened, he'd known Volkner long enough to read the signs. Assorted tools, wrenches and screwdrivers and even the soldering iron sat mixed in with circuit boards and wires; it was a failed project if he ever saw one. The few empty beer bottles and the overflowing ash tray were enough to explain what was wrong with Volkner this time – he didn't know how to fix the problem. 'You turned the iron off, right?'

'Might have.' Volkner shrugged and spoke with the cigarette hanging from his lips. 'Tea? Beer? Coffee?' He offered as he stood up.

'Nah.' While his back was turned, Flint reached across the table and turned off the soldering iron; even he knew that leaving it smouldering was no good. Volkner sat back down and popped off the cap with a flathead. 'So you gonna sit in here moping all day?'

'I don't mope.' Volkner was using the same hand to hold the bottle and his cigarette. 'I brood.'

'Call it whatever you want, man, but you still come off looking like a fifteen year old girl.'

'Get out of my fucking house.'

'Oh, the threats, here we go.' Flint rolled his eyes. 'Oh no. Leader Volkner is going to try to kick my ass. I better leave now.' He said mechanically. 'You know that crap doesn't work on me.'

'Should.'

'Seriously? Come on, Volk, I'm not spending another weekend at home watching tv in the dark in your apartment.'

'That's bullshit.'

'How's it bullshit?'

'My apartment is never dark. I like the hum of the electric lights.'

'Well hold that thought and repeat it to some pretty thing on the beach, sounds deep enough.'

'Fuck off.' Volkner said again. 'I've got better shit to do.'

'When did you last open?'

'What?'

'The Gym. When did you last open for battles?'

'Wednesday. Then I started this and didn't have the time.' He spoke with the cigarette hanging from his mouth. 'What did you say?'

'Huh?' Flint didn't remember saying anything important. He was more surprised that Volkner had registered something he'd said in the past ten minutes.

'You just said something, hold that thought or something. What did you say after that?'

'Save it for one of the chicks down at the beach? Chicks love sentimental crap.'

'The beach.'

'What about it.'

'Water. Hydro, Flint, hydro. That's why I can't get the prototype to work.'

'What are you trying to do?'

'City needs more power.'

'We have a power station. And remember the solar panels? The ones you fucking built?'

'Not enough power. Need more.' Volkner stood up again and threw his cigarette end into the sink. He went back and drained the remaining half of his beer and left the room; Flint stayed where he was.

'You've practically got your own fucking substation, how much more power do you want to suck in?'

'As much as I can.' He returned with large bag and started throwing in items from the table.

'Aw shit, you've got that face.' Flint rolled his eyes.

'Which face?'

'The 'I'm a cocky bastard trapped inside a vortex of my own genius' look.'

'Hydro power, Flint. How have I lived in Sunyshore my entire life and never realised it? I thought of solar power before I thought hydro.' Volkner tossed his cigarettes into the bag but slipped the lighter into his pocket. 'How the fuck did I overlook hydro?' He grinned.

'Stop that, I hate that look, it's dangerous. You're doing that thing again where you look like a fucking lunatic.' Flint said.

'Beach?' Volkner grinned again and threw the bag over his shoulder. Flint couldn't help feeling unnerved, it was the grin that did it.

'Can't you just pretend to be normal for once, you jerk? Seriously. A day at the beach looking for chicks, I shouldn't have to sell you that fucking idea.'

'What?'

'Nothing.' Flint rolled his eyes.

'Volk, you know I'm a decent guy, right?'

'Huh? Yeah Flint.'

'Okay, so it's not like I'm trying to be a jerk or anything, but put that shit down and come and check out these chicks.'

'I'm busy, I told you I needed to come out here to think. It was too...'

'Smokey?'

'Confining in my apartment.' Volkner scowled. 'I've been thinking about wind turbines but the city is too small. I mean they'd work on a larger scale if we wanted to power the whole of Sinnoh but that's not what I'm trying to do.'

'What are you trying to do anyway?'

'Ideally? I'll have the Gym off the grid so that the substation can handle the power for the city without me draining it all the time.'

'Off the grid completely?'

'Yeah. I can do it, you know. Hydro. How the fuck did I overlook it before?'

'You said that earlier.'

'Probably. Can you get out of my light?' He spoke without looking up from his sketching, a complex series of circuits and schematics intercut with equations; Flint couldn't be sure but it looked like Volkner had already managed to work out the rough details.

'Seriously?'

'Yeah seriously. I'm trying to think." Volkner reached down with his spare hand and started rummaging through his bag while scrawling numbers with the other. He found what he was looking for and worked a cigarette out of the pack, moving to his pocket for the lighter.

'Stop thinking and come check out these girls, Volk. Fuck, they're half naked and everything.'

'Good for them.'

'Fucking hell, man. Are you really more worried about getting some more electricity right now?'

'Yes. Cyrus would have thought of hydro and it's taken me until now. Fucking Cyrus probably beat me to it. There's probably schematics from when he was fifteen still in his parents' house.'

'Yeah, and what was Cyrus doing last time you heard of him?'

'Being an evil genius.'

'Exactly.'

'He grew up here just like us, god dammit, why didn't I think of it before?'

'Wait, what? There's no proof he thought of it before you did.'

'He's grown up to be an evil genius, of course he's fucking thought of hydro power.' Volkner snapped. 'You're in my light.'

'Jasmine's back, she's over there.'

'Good, maybe you can invite her round sometime.'

'Seriously, Volk? Nothing?'

'Seriously, Flint, you're in my fucking light.' Volkner looked up from his sketches long enough for Flint to notice the, admittedly obvious, scowl of contempt on his face. 'I'm on a roll and I don't have time for her today, if she asks tell her I'm busy trying to catch up to an evil genius.'

'Man, that could be interpreted in a bad way.'

'Do I look like I give a fuck?'

'You look like a fucking madman.'

'And you don't?'

'I'm not sitting on a beach drawing up schematics so no, I look normal.'

'Have you seen your reflection lately?'

'You're hilarious.'

'Flint.'

'What?'

'Standing over my shoulder is not getting out of my light.'

'Act like a normal human being once in a while and maybe I wouldn't have to stand over your shoulder all the time.'

'Normal human being?' Volkner's fingers twitched towards Electivire's pokeball.

'Yeah, you know the kind.'

'Do I?' He dropped his clipboard and pencil into the sand and stood up without turning back towards Flint. He was walking too fast for the idea to be his own, he was only doing it to get Flint off his back; in fact, the entire event was the polar opposite of normal human behaviour. If he got it over and done with now, Flint would shut up, leaving him free to continue his work. 'Hey,' He said. Jasmine looked up with a smile and held up a hand to block the sun from her eyes.

'Hello,' She said politely. 'You're not busy today?'

'Yeah, actually, pretty busy.' Hands in his pockets, he looked more impatient than anything else.

'So why are you here?'

'Flint's on my back again. Standing in my light. Being a prick.'

'You'd miss him if he stopped visiting.'

'I missed you when you stopped visiting for a month.'

'So you do have a heart.'

'Apparently. Look,' He didn't want to continue that conversation on a public beach. 'I've just got this new idea and I think it's going to work out this time, I've got the basics sketched out already but I'm nowhere near finished. So if I invited you round tonight, even though I'm busy, what would you say?'

'I'd say that luckily for you I have plans as well.'

'Nice choice. How about tomorrow? I probably won't be finished by then but I might be less…'

'Manic?' Jasmine supplied.

'Yeah, that works.' He had that distracted air about him again, that much she knew, it wasn't worth trying to carry on a conversation.

'I'll come by at seven.'

'Yeah. Yeah, Flint should be gone by then. See you later.'

'Bye.' Jasmine smiled again as he walked away, more intent on his work than he had been before their conversation. He picked up his papers and started off back down the beach towards the Gym; Flint followed eventually, reluctantly, resigned to the fact that no matter how hard he tried to enjoy his weekends back home, Volkner would always manage to ruin them for him without even realising he was doing it.


End file.
